ID :
13257
Mon, 07/21/2008 - 17:54
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http://m.oananews.org//node/13257
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Advani says nuclear deal has made India "subservient"
New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) Holding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directly responsible for the present political crisis, Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani Monday said that the Indo-US nuclear deal has become an agreement between twoindividuals making India "subservient" and a "junior partner".
"U.P.A. is like a patient in the I.C.U. room. The first question everyone asks is whether he is going to survive or not," Advani said in a scatching attack on the PrimeMinister and the ruling U.P.A. coalition.
Speaking on the confidence motion moved by the Prime Minister, the B.J.P. leader accused the Prime Minister of having opposed the 1998 Pokhran II tests, triggering an immediate rebuttal by Singh who said he had only spoken aboutsanctions and whether the country was prepared for it.
Advani referred to "sharp exchanges" during that periodin Rajya Sabha between Singh and late B.J.P. leader K.R.
Malkani but the Prime Minister retorted saying let any objective person read the proceedings and draw his ownconclusions.
Singh said his remarks on the tests and the criticisms were made in the context of sanctions imposed on India after the tests and also in the light of India's stand onnon-proliferation.
The B.J.P. leader said the present situation was entirely brought about by Singh and not precipitated byopposition N.D.A. or even Left parties.
He said people would decide in the next elections"even if the government survives Tuesday".
Advani said Singh had sparked the political impasse with his interview to a Kolkata newspaper where he had saidthat if the Left parties want to withdraw support, "so be it".
"If the government was so serious about the (nuclear) deal, why is it not mentioned in the Common Minimum Programme (C.M.P.) or even the Congress manifesto. It is a kind of an agreement between two individuals amd one happens to be thePrime Minister," the B.J.P. leader said.
Attacking the government for speaking in "different voices", Advani said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had assured the Left parties that India would approach the I.A.E.A. for the safeguards agreement only aftergetting the approval of Parliament.
But the Prime Minister had chosen to give a different line and suddenly the draft agreement was sent to the nuclearwatchdog, he said.
The draft text was described as "privileged" and"classified" but it was circulated to I.A.E.A. members first.
"I have never seen a government paralysed for so long"with nothing else but the deal, Advani said.
He said B.J.P. was not against forging close relations with the US but was against India being party to adeal which was "unequal".
"If people vote N.D.A. back to power, we will renegotiate the deal to make it equal and ensure that thereare no constraints on our strategic autonomy," the B.J.P.
leader said.
"I don't agree with the Left. We differ very widely on various issues. But if the government is destablised after four years and two months... and faces the likelihood of being voted out... then this situation has been brought aboutnot by the opposition NDA or even the Leftists," Advani said.
"This has been invited by the government itself, and Mr. Prime Minister, I am sorry to say, by you personally," hesaid, adding that even Left parties "wanted to prolong" it.
"Please don't blame anyone else. It is your government and in a way you, personally, and even the Congress Presidentwithout whom you would not take a single step is to be blamed.
The opposition has played no role in this," Advani said, claiming that his party would strive to "defeat the governmenton the floor of the House".
He drew a distinction between defeating the government and destablising it by saying "it is not in our nature to destabilise governments. You may do it with Chandrashekhar'sgovernment or those of H.D. Deve Gowda or I.K. Gujral.
"Even the Vajpayee government was destabilised with the help of a member who was made the Chief Minister of a state," Advani said apparently referring to the vote by GiridharGamang in during the 1999 trust vote.
Maintaining that he had seen several "short-lived" and "unstable" governments in the past, the Opposition leader said "but I have never seen a government so paralysed" that it paysno heed to the people's problems.
Advani said the focus of the debate on the motionshould be "why did it become necessary".
As far back as in August last year, he said the government had made up its mind to go ahead with the deal asper an interview given by the Prime Minister to a daily then.
"This state of affairs continued with the government being paralysed... and nothing else excepting the deal beingtalked of. The common man's problems were ignored," he said.
Observing that he was "not happy" with the nuclear deal as it makes India "a junior partner", the B.J.P. veteran said "we do not support a uni-polar world. We favour a multi-polar world in which India will be a principle pole. But this deal makes India permanently a non-nuclear weapon state." To create a broad consensus on the nuclear issue, Advani said the government should have formed a Joint Parliamentary Committee (J.P.C.) but regretted that insteadthe U.P.A. government went on forming U.P.A.-Left committee.
"We have been saying that U.P.A. government, without 60-61 MPs of Left parties, will be reduced to minority and a minority government has no right to move on internationalagreements (nuclear deal)," he said.
He also charged the government for deceiving the general public saying that with this deal the people would getpower.
"If at all this deal goes through, when we will get power and at what price and how much," Advani asked and pointed out that today nuclear power contributed only three percent of total electricty generation and even after thedeal it would increase to just six percent only.
But the deal was not the only issue, Advani said and claimed the government had "completely failed" on all fronts like providing electricity to all, roads, water, agricultureand irrigation, as promised in the Common Minimum Programme.
"Do not try to cover up your failures on all thesefronts by the nuclear deal," he said.
"U.P.A. is like a patient in the I.C.U. room. The first question everyone asks is whether he is going to survive or not," Advani said in a scatching attack on the PrimeMinister and the ruling U.P.A. coalition.
Speaking on the confidence motion moved by the Prime Minister, the B.J.P. leader accused the Prime Minister of having opposed the 1998 Pokhran II tests, triggering an immediate rebuttal by Singh who said he had only spoken aboutsanctions and whether the country was prepared for it.
Advani referred to "sharp exchanges" during that periodin Rajya Sabha between Singh and late B.J.P. leader K.R.
Malkani but the Prime Minister retorted saying let any objective person read the proceedings and draw his ownconclusions.
Singh said his remarks on the tests and the criticisms were made in the context of sanctions imposed on India after the tests and also in the light of India's stand onnon-proliferation.
The B.J.P. leader said the present situation was entirely brought about by Singh and not precipitated byopposition N.D.A. or even Left parties.
He said people would decide in the next elections"even if the government survives Tuesday".
Advani said Singh had sparked the political impasse with his interview to a Kolkata newspaper where he had saidthat if the Left parties want to withdraw support, "so be it".
"If the government was so serious about the (nuclear) deal, why is it not mentioned in the Common Minimum Programme (C.M.P.) or even the Congress manifesto. It is a kind of an agreement between two individuals amd one happens to be thePrime Minister," the B.J.P. leader said.
Attacking the government for speaking in "different voices", Advani said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had assured the Left parties that India would approach the I.A.E.A. for the safeguards agreement only aftergetting the approval of Parliament.
But the Prime Minister had chosen to give a different line and suddenly the draft agreement was sent to the nuclearwatchdog, he said.
The draft text was described as "privileged" and"classified" but it was circulated to I.A.E.A. members first.
"I have never seen a government paralysed for so long"with nothing else but the deal, Advani said.
He said B.J.P. was not against forging close relations with the US but was against India being party to adeal which was "unequal".
"If people vote N.D.A. back to power, we will renegotiate the deal to make it equal and ensure that thereare no constraints on our strategic autonomy," the B.J.P.
leader said.
"I don't agree with the Left. We differ very widely on various issues. But if the government is destablised after four years and two months... and faces the likelihood of being voted out... then this situation has been brought aboutnot by the opposition NDA or even the Leftists," Advani said.
"This has been invited by the government itself, and Mr. Prime Minister, I am sorry to say, by you personally," hesaid, adding that even Left parties "wanted to prolong" it.
"Please don't blame anyone else. It is your government and in a way you, personally, and even the Congress Presidentwithout whom you would not take a single step is to be blamed.
The opposition has played no role in this," Advani said, claiming that his party would strive to "defeat the governmenton the floor of the House".
He drew a distinction between defeating the government and destablising it by saying "it is not in our nature to destabilise governments. You may do it with Chandrashekhar'sgovernment or those of H.D. Deve Gowda or I.K. Gujral.
"Even the Vajpayee government was destabilised with the help of a member who was made the Chief Minister of a state," Advani said apparently referring to the vote by GiridharGamang in during the 1999 trust vote.
Maintaining that he had seen several "short-lived" and "unstable" governments in the past, the Opposition leader said "but I have never seen a government so paralysed" that it paysno heed to the people's problems.
Advani said the focus of the debate on the motionshould be "why did it become necessary".
As far back as in August last year, he said the government had made up its mind to go ahead with the deal asper an interview given by the Prime Minister to a daily then.
"This state of affairs continued with the government being paralysed... and nothing else excepting the deal beingtalked of. The common man's problems were ignored," he said.
Observing that he was "not happy" with the nuclear deal as it makes India "a junior partner", the B.J.P. veteran said "we do not support a uni-polar world. We favour a multi-polar world in which India will be a principle pole. But this deal makes India permanently a non-nuclear weapon state." To create a broad consensus on the nuclear issue, Advani said the government should have formed a Joint Parliamentary Committee (J.P.C.) but regretted that insteadthe U.P.A. government went on forming U.P.A.-Left committee.
"We have been saying that U.P.A. government, without 60-61 MPs of Left parties, will be reduced to minority and a minority government has no right to move on internationalagreements (nuclear deal)," he said.
He also charged the government for deceiving the general public saying that with this deal the people would getpower.
"If at all this deal goes through, when we will get power and at what price and how much," Advani asked and pointed out that today nuclear power contributed only three percent of total electricty generation and even after thedeal it would increase to just six percent only.
But the deal was not the only issue, Advani said and claimed the government had "completely failed" on all fronts like providing electricity to all, roads, water, agricultureand irrigation, as promised in the Common Minimum Programme.
"Do not try to cover up your failures on all thesefronts by the nuclear deal," he said.
